The Zanarkand Chronicles: Another Day
by Phuq
Summary: Part of the Prophecy. Tidus's best friend Sheera is running out of time to make the most important decision in her life. How can she? But then, how can she not? The longer she waits, the harder it will be to let him go... SPOILERS


Disclaimer: I do not own Auron, Tidus, Zanarkand, Jecht, or any of the aeons. I own Sheera, though, so kindly bugger off.

Spoily spoily spoliers! You've been warned! Takes place a couple of months before the game. Oh, and Tidus is a bit of a jerk in this. Fame goes to your head, ya? [NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! I CAN'T BE WAKKA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! _brain cells dying_. DAMMIT!!!!!] Let's pretend _that _didn't just happen.

Read. Review. Yadda Yadda. [Insert flame joke here.]

Another Day

"Ah for her fate!

Will she never rest?

Will she never cry?

-excerpt from _The Prophecy of Sunis_

_Tap, tappa tappa, tap tap_. Cheryl grins. "You're late." She kisses the blonde intruder, throwing her arms around his neck. He leans forward, pushing her on the bed beneath him.

"Sorry, milady. Wilt thou accept my humblest apologies." His lips lock onto her neck.

Cheryl moans. Her sun-god.

***

_Oh my God no please don't let this be happening. Stop Jecht **STOP STOP STOP**_. _._ Sheera fumbles for the door, pumping techno music boring it's way into her skull. She closes her eyes; a futile gesture, as her eyes have nothing to do with the visions.

"You okay?"

"Sheera? You tripping?"

Sheersheera... she words roll around in her only and bounce away meaningless. She screams.

_STOP! Please, Jecht, it's me! **STOP! **_He can't or doesn't hear her. Sheera is forced to endure watching Sin kill. A boy on chocobo-back, not much older than herself, opens his moth for a battle-cry and.... gone. _God, how could you let Yevon do this? Please don't make me watch anymore, _she pleads. Despite everything she'd seen, all the death, pain and choas left in his wake, nothing could prepare her for this... **massacre. **_God, how could you let them think they deserve this?_ _Hey, are You even listening? Do you give a fuck?_

She leans over and vomits. The pedestrians step around her.

_Don't make me do this, God._

_***_

Tidus looks at the brunette asleep in his arms. _Is she out? Good. _Tidus gathers his clothes, dresses, and leaves. Like he was never there.

***

_"Auron wake up. Wake up, Auron," _a voice in his head says. _"Please, wake up. Auron, wake up_." Auron gets dressed, ignoring the voice. _"Auron, please. Auron, wake up. Please, wake up." _He opens the door and the sobbing girls shove her face into his chest. 

"Sheera?" he asks, trying to keep his rough voice gentle.

"I went inside Sin. I saw... How could anyone survive _that?_" she mumbles.

He says nothing, because he can't think of what to say. **What? **Could he say that he understood, when he has no idea what it's like to be her? So he says nothing. She knows what he means. She always knows.

***

Tidus crawls through the window of his room. He trips over the windowsill. He thuds against the floor, hoping Auron doesn't hear. He strips off his clothes and crawls into bed, exhausted.

***

Sheera wraps her arms around her knees and rocks back and forth. Tear drip off her face and run down her legs. Anima approaches the girl.

"It is your fate, as it was mine to become a fayth. Do not be afraid for him. You shall give him life, and that is why he shall die. Be not afraid, for you, too are alive and shall see him again on the Farplane." Her voice is warm, comforting, smooth. Sheera looks up.

"I know." Her voice speaks of an infinite amount of pain. _Such a child should not be forced to carry such a heavy burden._ Anima reaches out, her mind kind and gentle and full of pain. Sheera pulls back.

"Leave me." Anima is whirled away. Sheera retreats within, searching for some sort of answer. She spreads her mind out, reaching as far as she can reach. Her mind roars with the vitality of the dream city. Zanarkand, the city that never sleeps. She is a man hawking crack a street corner, a little boy dreaming of monsters under the bed, a teenager in love, an old woman in mourning. She feels their warmth, their pain, their joy. It comforts her. She spreads her arms wide, drinking it in. She retreats within, once more. She needs a light, a sense of hope. Her mind touches Tidus's life-giving soul. He floods her with light. She sinks down into it. He dreams of Cheryl. Sheera steps back and dives back in. Not a dream, a memory. She feels Cheryl in Tidus's mind, sees her bare flesh and the adoring look in her eyes. Rage swells within, at the girl who has what she never can, at the golden traitor. She rears back and strikes. Pain shoots through him. He screams, feeling the cold hand of darkness close around him. _What have I done? I've hurt him. **Oh, God. **_Sheera sends her mind back in. He is alive, barely.

**Take me away from here! **She screams for the fayth. Multi-colored wings close around her, and she disappears in a rush of feathers.

***

Tidus lays awake, trying in vain to keep the tears inside. It hurts, like something is inside him and trying to claw it's way out. He can't think, see, hear. Everything is pain. He is paralyzed, chained to bed. He screams in agony. Auron attempts to calm the boy down, but his efforts are futile. He does not exist to Tidus.

He feels a light inside, driving the pain away. _"Hello, we have come to help." _Three voices speak in unison. _The Sisters? _It has been a long time. He can't remember their names. _"Open your eyes. Sit up." _Tidus looks around. He's back in his room.

"Auron, what happened?" Just talking hurts him, but the pain is bearable.

"If she wants you to know, she'll tell you herself," Auron answers but doesn't really say anything.

"Just once, give me a straight answer."

"Hmph." Auron walks over to the window. "Your friend Sheera came over."

"Why?" Sheera has problems with her slut mom and her boyfriends. It's not unusual for Tidus to wake up and find Sheera on the couch.

"She's disappeared. I suggest you look for her." Auron turns to look at the boy. "Before she does something drastic."

"Why don't you do it?" Tidus threw himself backward onto the bed.

"It is your concern." Auron closes the door and goes outside. If he wishes to abandon his friend, that is his business. Auron couldn't be expected to solve his problems for him.

***

Tidus walks to the blitz stadium, his heart heavy, head in the past.

Age seven, as one abused child to another _"Don't worry. I'll be strong for you, so if your mommy hits you, I'll get hit too, and you won't hurt as much."_

"Pinkie swear?"

"Pinkie swear."

He remembers another promise, made years later, back when they were both outcasts. "_Tidus, if you get popular and famous, promise you'll still be my friend. Pinkie swear?"_

"Pinkie swear."

How long has been since he'd last talked to Sheera? He couldn't remember, exactly, but it's been a while. Ever since he'd joined the Abes, he's spent most of his time either in training or with Cheryl, and before her, Quai and before her... What is her name? Nina. Two months and they'd only had sex three times. With Cheryl, though, Cheryl was terrific.

**_Oh, yeah, think about sex, why don'tcha_**. _Your friend could be dead, for all you know_, Tidus curses himself. Sheera has talked suicide before. Only last month, she said _"You know, if I died now, I wonder if I'd mind."_ He thought about how quiet she'd been around him. Usually the problem was getting her to shut up. Shit, no one could talk as much as Sheer. _"Why do they even make black jelly beans? No one eats them. Do you know anyone who eats the black ones? They should make the black ones brown ones because the brown ones are best..." _

"I wonder what everywhere else like. Haven't you ever wondered what it would like to live in another place, one that isn't Zanarkand? Maybe somewhere far to the south, where there is no winter..."

"This one time, I heard these two girls talking and..."

**"Hey! Listen!"**

Tidus pulls himself from his thoughts and looks around. She likes to hang out at the stadium on nights where there weren't games and just stare up at the sky and think. He walks slower, instinctively, to not disrupt her thoughts. He sees a small figure kneeling in the middle where the pool usually is.

"Sheera?" The figure remains motionless. He walks closer.

"Sheera, you mad at me or somethin'?" The figure touches its head to the ground.

"Cheery?" The figure responds to its old nickname and stands up.

"Only Daddy can call me that." Sheera turns to show her left side to her friend. She walks towards the stands, short red dress whispering as she moves. "Tonight I saw, for the first time, what I have to do." The moonlight causes her skin to glow; giving her an unearthly appearance only heightened by the hollow, prophetic sound of her usually warm, musical voice.

"Huh?" Tidus follows her up.

Her bare feet slide against the ground. He can see a knife strapped against her ankle. Its bright edge is rusted with blood, and a red stream runs down both arms, dripping on the concrete. Tidus feels strangely calm, almost uncaring as he observes everything.

"You're gonna die, you know. As will I. As will I. Because..." She chokes off and cuts her mind loose. "We can't... stay like this..." She brushes her mind against Tidus's, calming him. "One day, you'll leave..." She raises her arms above her head, healing the wounds caused by panic. "Please... It has to be this way..." They stand at the top of the bleachers, and Sheera withdrawals from his mind. "They say I have to..." She dislikes touching him, afraid that she may hurt him. "But I don't want to!" Afraid of what she may find out. "They didn't ask..." _If only she hadn't touched him tonight! _"They never asked if I wanted it!" She feels shame for the pain she caused him in her jealousy. "I never had a choice!" **Why should he not love others? **She must accept the fact that they are only friends, and never will be anything more.

"Look out upon the city, Tidus, look at it like you will never see it again." She speaks with the same ethereal calm. Tidus stares at his friend. In the moonlight, she actually looks... _pretty. _Not that she was ugly, just not pretty. She wears glasses, her nose bends and hooks at the end, she has thin lips, her ears are bit too big. She was really too thin, starved looking. She was ivory-pale, almost sickly looking. Really, the only things she has are her green-and-blue eyes and her deep red hair. Well, her voice too, but Tidus hardly ever listened anymore.

"Sheera, are you okay? Auron says you freaked out and ran off. Well, not in those words, but you know." Sheera welcomes the feel of his bare hand on her shoulder. He usually wears gloves.

"Tidus, I want you to make me a promise. Remember me exactly as I am." Sheera feels tears come to her eyes. **Saying it is so much harder than thinking it. **She sobs uncontrollably.

"Sheer." Tidus whispers her name and draws her in by her wrists. "Don't."

She closes her eyes, her heart wanting to go closer, but the rest of her wishing to flee. She pulls away and holds out her hand. "Pinkie swear?"

Tidus hesitates. _If I don't promise, maybe she'll stick around._ He watches Sheera as she puts her hand down. She turns and looks out over the city.

Sheera wishes she could tell her secret to Tidus. She wishes she could say what would happen, so he'll share the pain and she won't be alone. She sinks into his mind. He is such a child, and happy. She can't take that from him. Not when he has such little time left.

Sheera pulls out her knife. Tidus tightens. She places the blade in a crack in the concrete and bends it until it snaps. She drops the useless handle onto the ground. **_Valefor, take him home. _**She reaches into his mind and fades the memory of the night, to where it is only a dream.

She thinks about Tidus, who to send him with. She shakes her head. She will wait and see. It doesn't have to end. Not yet. One day, certainly, but not today.

***

A red-haired girl stands on the wrong side of the railing, watching the sun come up. A peaceful smile spreads across her face as she lets go and falls, floating softly to the ground and running in barefooted summer joy, letting herself have one more day.

***

A bleach-blonde teenager moves in his bed, puzzling over the strange dream he had last night. He opens his eyes, and shuts them again as the early morning sun shines gently in his face. He nuzzles down into his pillow, and sinks back into sleep, dreaming of a girl with long red hair in a short red dress.

***

A man in a red robe stands upon edge of the balcony. He looks at the sun creeping over the horizon. He raises his tokkurui in a salute, and heads back inside. He pauses at the door of the boy's room, closes his eyes, and turns away. He goes to his own room and opens the closet, looking at the two swords, one keen, strong, heavy, the other, bright, light, and made for speed. They can wait. He does not need them yet.

***

The dream awakens. Adults get up and go to work the young crawl into bed after long nights of play. Shops open and clubs close. The busy people rush about, hardly aware they have been given another day to live.

[:(] Depressing, ya? Sorry, can't help it. Meh.


End file.
